How much actual power does the Iranian 'president' have? Is he just a puppet for Khomeni?
Khomeini is dead. But as for the current Supreme Leader, Khameimi, well he's the Supreme Leader. He's the one with real power. But when the president agrees with him, he's not going to stand in the way.
Iran's government is a lot like a school's. There's a student council, student president, etc. and they all are freely elected. But they don't have much real power, the principal, teachers and all administrators are selected and the students have absolutely no say over it. That's the case with Iran. The real groups that hold power (like the Guardian Council and Council of Experts and all sorts of pretentiously named bodies they have) are the ones that really call the shots, not the elected Parliament or President. The last President, Khatami, was a bit of a reformist, but he got basically nothing done, because the unelected bodies of mullahs tied his hands.
I completely agree. That's a very good characterization of the situation in Iran.
